The Black Bird
by yukito the NM Syndromer
Summary: Cussing and it's shounen-ai, so it's pg13 anyway. RavenxVan. Last chapter up.
1. The Beginning

Black Bird

By: yukito mewprout@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: I don't own Zoids. If I did I would be very happy. But I don't, so I'm not.

This story takes place during the Guardian Force episodes, when Van and Raven are both about 16 or 18. It's a little while after Zeke raises the potential of the Blade Liger.

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Raven and Shadow were traveling through a large desert, looking for one of the Republican bases. Raven was starting to get very annoyed; they should have found something. His main reason for even going through all the trouble was to find Van. He hated the normally cheerful Liger pilot and wanted to eliminate him. Van haunted his thoughts and Raven did not appreciate that.

Suddenly, a loud roar sounded. Raven smirked and turned around. The Blade Liger was standing atop a plateau, staring down at him.

"What are you doing here, Raven? Are you insane?" Van yelled through the radio. Raven didn't reply, but his eyes lit up with cold amusement. He fired the Genobreaker's Pulse Lasers, but Van jumped out of the way and bounded down the cliff.

"I see you've gotten better. Where are your friends?" Raven could care less about where the other two were, but felt the need to ask anyway.

Van hesitated. "They're off on a mission…" _'Makes my job of taking him out easier,'_ Raven thought.

"SHADOW!" Raven called his black organoid.

"Let's go, Zeke!" 

The battle began. Van knew he had to wait a few minutes and Shadow wouldn't be able to stay bonded to the Genobreaker's core. Raven used his Hyper Strike Claws to catch Van and pull him in. Van fired the Anti-Zoid Shock Cannon, and managed to escape. Raven swung around and tried to knock Van's Blade Liger off its feet with the Genobreaker's tail. Van jumped up, and Raven fired the Pulse Laser, this time hitting the Blade Liger. Van's Zoid smashed into the ground, but regained its footing quickly enough to dodge another blow from the Genobreaker. 

Just as Van expected, Shadow soon bailed out of the Genobreaker. Raven grumbled, once more becoming annoyed. He decided his fun was over, and charged the Particle Cannon. He fired it, and Van once again moved out of the way, trying to sneak behind for an easy attack. However, Raven had been expecting this. He suddenly turned on Van and slashed at him with his claws. A large gash was cut through the Blade Liger's chest, and electrical sparks shot out everywhere. Raven wasted no time and began stomping on the Blade Liger. He heard Van cry out in pain, probably from the jolts of electricity being sent through the cockpit. Raven the picked up Van's Zoid and threw it against the wall of a cliff. The badly damaged Zoid's cockpit flew open, and Van came flying out. Zeke bailed out as Shadow had, his energy completely drained.

Raven smirked (he does that a lot) and began to walk off, sure his job had been finished. Until he heard the small groan that came from Van's prone form. Raven stopped and looked back, wondering what he should do. Deciding to finish the job, he raised one massive foot of the Genobreaker and was about to bring it smashing down on top of Van when he heard him groan again.

Steel eyes narrowed in agitation. He couldn't just kill the young Guardian when he wasn't in a Zoid a capable of defending himself, could he? Sighing, Raven lowered his Zoid's foot and climbed out. He checked Van for a pulse, and found one that was still very strong. He picked the boy up and placed him in the Genobreaker, retreating with Shadow and leaving Zeke and the Blade Liger behind.

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Van awoke with a start, jumping into a sitting position. No one was around, so he took a good look at his surroundings. It was dark and stars winked at Van from their heights in the sky. There was a campfire and a pack set up next to it. Van smelt something cooking, and noticed a pot of soup.

"Rrr…?"

Van looked behind him to see Raven and Shadow approaching. Raven held what looked like wood for the fire. Raven glanced at Van with his cold eyes, but otherwise took no notice of him. He checked on the soup, and must have decided it was ready to eat. He looked around in the backpack and pulled out two bowls. He put the soup in them and gave one to Van.

Van stared at it suspiciously, but when Raven started to eat his, he let his guard drop. He was hungry, and it looked good enough. He would've preferred a papaya, though. They both ate in silence, Raven generally ignoring Van, Shadow watching Van, and Van keeping a close eye on both Raven and Shadow.

When the two boys were finished, Van finally broke the silence.

"Why did you help me?" Raven looked surprised before slipping back into his indifferent mask.

"I don't know. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, you're amusing. I might keep you around for a while as entertainment."

More silence.

"Where's Zeke?"

"Probably back at that base. I left him and the Liger there." Van glared at Raven. "What? You don't have a problem with that, do you?" Van didn't answer, but instead looked at the stars, checking to see if any constellations he knew were visible.

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The sky grew darker and darker, and Van fell asleep. Shadow lay curled in a ball, his nose touching the tip of his metallic black tail. Raven was the only one awake, and he stared at the dying embers of the fire.

Suddenly, a loud snore startled Raven. He looked in Van's general direction. The kid was in a deep sleep, snoring worse than Shadow. He was drooling and mumbling something about papayas. With a loud snort, he turned over so he was facing Raven. He looked completely relaxed and unburdened by dreams that haunted Raven every night.

"Papayas…" 

Raven snorted. Van was definitely amusing.

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Yay! Shounen-ai rocks! But seriously, I'm surprised no one has written a RavenxVan story yet. Oh, well…


	2. Unintentional Snuggling

THE BLACK BIRD CH.2

yukito

mewprout@yahoo.com

disclaimer- see part one.

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Raven was dreaming again. He kept seeing Prozen and Shadow. The death of his parents. And Zoids killing things. As soon as the images came, however, they left him in a world of dark. He awoke with a start. To smell something burning.

Raven looked around to see if there was a fire, but instead found Van cooking. Or trying to, anyway. He was trying to make scrambled eggs, but they were starting to burn. Van looked confused and sort of stressed, and he glared at the eggs as if they were responsible for his lack of cooking skills. _'That's a cute look.'_ Raven thought before shaking the idea out of his head.

"What are you doing?" he asked in his normal cold voice. Van froze for a moment and started to blush slightly. He fought down the burning in his face before answering.

"Uh, cooking breakfast. I decided to try to do something nice…" he trailed off. Raven sat and watched Van's poor attempts at making a decent breakfast before mumbling something under his breath and getting up to sit near Van.

"You do it like this." He took the pan and spoon from Van and cooked the eggs with out burning them anymore than they already were. Van thanked Raven and they ate.

__

'He's such an idiot,' Raven thought. _'A cute idiot. No, wait. That's not what I wanted to think.'_ Raven brushed the thoughts of Van from his mind and watched him finish eating.

"We have to go into town today," Raven said. Van looked confused again. "To get supplies."

"I didn't know you went into towns. Don't people there bother you?"

Raven didn't answer, but thought about times he had almost been caught. If it weren't for Shadow, he would probably be dead by now.

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They walked closer and closer to the town of Nonage, and they saw people and children playing in the streets. Van had suggested Raven put something over his head so people wouldn't recognize him, and than gave him a scarf. Raven had it tied around his head right now, although it made him feel uncomfortably hot. They entered and found themselves generally unnoticed among the crowd, except for a few glances by people. They bought a few things, but then Raven decided to split up.

"I have to go do something," was his only explanation. The truth was, he wanted to buy some papayas for Van. He didn't know why he was feeling nice enough to do something like that, but Van seemed to really like papayas. A lot more than what would be considered healthy.

After a bit of searching, he found a fruit stand. He found some papayas and was about to buy them when someone snatched his scarf off of his head. When Raven turned around to see whom it was, he saw a little kid who had decided to play keep away with Raven's disguise.

Raven growled and tried to snatch it back from the kid, who continued to struggle. He grabbed the small child by his arms in an attempt to get him to be still, when someone shouted.

"Hey, that's Raven!" A lady piped up, "And he's trying to kill Billy!"

Oh, jeebus.

Some people started to run toward them. Raven forgot his scarf and dropped the kid, figuring his life and personal well being was more important anyway. _'Do they always happen to have pitchforks and torches ready for when they need instant angry mobs?'_ Raven mused. It seemed like they did. He was being chased back and forth, through winding streets and dark alleys until he finally came to a dead end.

The mob that had chased him was slowly closing in.

"WAIT!" Van came running and jumped between the mob and Raven. Everyone instantly recognized him as the destroyer of the Deathsaurer. (A/n-why they didn't recognized him before, we shall never know)

"You can't kill him!" he shouted defensively.

"Why not?" the irate mobbers demanded.

"Because, uh…" Van looked confused again, but only for a moment. "He's under my observation until we arrive at the capitol."

"He was killing Billy!" the lady from before yelled out.

"No he wasn't, mom."

"Quiet, Billy."

"I'm sorry, but he managed to escape. I was to careless… so… um…now I have to take him back…now…" Van trailed off, wondering if the crowd would believe his story.

"…Well, if Mr. Feiheit said it, that's good enough for me…" The mob dissipated with more speed than Van thought possible.

"Well that was weird."

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"What were you doing?" Van asked. They were now a safe distance from the town and heading back towards their campsite.

"That stupid kid took my scarf, so I was trying to get it back. That crazy old lady said I was trying to kill him." Raven explained. He suddenly remembered something. "Here, this is for you." He gave Van a small bag with the papayas in them.

"All right! Papayas! Thanks, Raven." Van began to swallow them down so fast that Raven wouldn't have been surprised if he choked.

"…You're welcome."

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Later that night, Van was up late thinking. He had eaten so many papayas that he had gotten a little stomachache. Raven had declared that it served him right for eating so many of them so quickly. _'It's not my fault that I like them so much.'_

Van looked over at Raven. He actually looked peaceful and innocent when sleeping. Not like when he was destroying a town without a second thought. Van was surprised at how quickly they had become friends. Or at how long they had managed to tolerate each other? Van wasn't sure. He did know that all of this thinking was making his head hurt almost as much as his stomach. He rolled onto his back and closed his eyes. Falling asleep almost instantly. In his sleep he squirmed and wriggled over to Raven until he was snuggled by his side.

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Owari!

Me-Woohoo, second chapter. And it's got snuggling!

Next chapter- Raven tells Van of his horrible past, and there might be kissing…maybe.


	3. Kissing! It's got Kissing!

****

BLACK BIRD

CH. 3 

yukito

mewprout@yahoo.com

Disclaimer- See previous chapters.

A/N- Sorry for the lack of updates to the story, but I've been busy with Final Fantasy IX. Anyway, here's the next part!

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Raven woke up early, and was surprised to find Van curled up at his side. He slowly moved away from the young Liger pilot, trying not to wake him. Raven felt nervous around him now. No one had ever been that close to him for what must have been the whole night. He made a note not to tell Van anything when he woke up to spare the other boy (and himself) some embarrassment.

Van mumbled in his sleep. He had just felt so warm just a minute ago. Figuring that he wasn't getting back to sleep any time soon, he cracked open an eye. Raven was walking away, deeper into the woods near where they had settled. Shadow grumbled at his master, to which Raven replied, "No, I need to think alone for a while." Van got up and stretched, trying to remove the kinks that formed from sleeping on rocks.

"There's not much to do now…," Van said aloud, mostly to himself. He threw rocks at trees, tied his shoes ten times over, and saw how many bugs he could find. B-o-r-i-n-g.

He began to hum. He eventually began to sing.

"I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves and this is how it goes. I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves, everybody's nerves…"

Around the twenty-second time he sang it over, Shadow snapped at him. Apparently the song worked for Organoids, too. 

"Fine. What do you want me to do then?" Shadow gave him a look that said, 'anything except sing.' Van was offended. He thought he had a marvelous singing voice. "Whatever."

After several moments of staring down the black Organoid, Van felt curious as to what Raven was doing. Normally he could care less, but the Genobreaker pilot had been gone for quite some time. Deciding that there was no way to win a staring contest against something that didn't need to blink anyway, Van picked himself off of the ground and went after Raven.

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Raven was sitting on a rock by a small stream, thinking. _'I hate him. He's stupid and cocky and annoying and optimistic and cute-'_ He cut himself off at that point. For a while he had been trying to convince himself that he liked **_no one_**, not even women. _'I have no emotions. Not love, at any rate.'_ Raven, however, was still losing the argument against his senses, which desperately wanted him to go back and jump Van.

But that wasn't happening. _'I won't let it happen.'_

While Raven was busily arguing inside his head, Van had snuck up behind him and was slowly inching closer. He was planning to give Raven a heart attack, simply because it would be amusing. Just as Van was getting ready to shout "Boo!", Raven's arm reached back and grabbed Van's shoulder, throwing the boy off balance. After a very brief struggle, Van ended up in Raven's lap (a/n ;) ). Raven glared down at Van. 

"What were you doing?" 

"I was going to scare you. Jeez, you can't take a joke?"

Silence fell between the two. Van nervously looked around and squirmed.

"So… can you let me go now?" Van asked.

"No," was the simple reply. Which surprised Van a little. He seriously thought Raven was one to avoid any kind of close contact for extended periods of time.

Silence once again fell. In fact, Silence had made so many appearances in the story that he was demanding a raise. But Silence wasn't getting one.

But back to the more important topic of Raven and Van.

Raven had spaced off, once again holding a discussion with the people in his head. Van wriggled a little more, trying to loosen Raven's grip on his wrists.

"You know Raven, you've seriously been acting weird. One minute you're (sort of) helpful, and the next you're all distant and you don't feel like talking."

Raven halfway snapped out of his trance and looked down at the boy in his lap. _'Cute.'_ He thought. _'He's at a disadvantage and yet he acts like he's got any authority in this situation.'_

Van was still talking about 'opening up to people' when Raven leaned down and pressed his lips against Van's, cutting him off in the middle of a sentence. Van's eyes widened, but he didn't fight. To his amazement, he was pulling Raven closer.

They sat there, pressed together for a few moments before Raven broke off for air. It was a short intermission, however, as they practically pounced on each other again. Van stuck his tongue out of his mouth and licked Raven's lips.

Raven gasped and stood up quickly, dropping Van in the dust. He snarled and stalked off through the woods, leaving a confused and hurt Van behind.

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yukito- Finally! I got my butt up on the third disc of Final Fantasy IX and decided to write. And I don't think this will ever become a lemon, maybe a little lime-ish, but no lemon.

Silence- ….

yukito- I already told you, No raise!


	4. The Ending Makes Me Feel All Warm And Gu...

The Black Bird

yukito

mewprout@yahoo.com

disclaimer- I don't own Zoids, cause if I did I would so make Van and Raven a couple.

The dramatic conclusion to our story, after many delays due to ISP problems. 

"stuff"- a person talking out loud

_'stuff' – an inner voice speaking ( like a conscience) _

**_"stuff"__ – a person's thoughts_**

"What the hell happened back there?!" Raven spoke aloud. He was confused, more confused 

than he had ever been. No one had ever kissed him before. He was the feared pilot of the Genobreaker, 

the boy that could destroy entire armies in a few minutes, the master of the black Organoid. 

'_Actually, it looked like you kissed him first.' _

**_"Shut up." Raven felt like screaming. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. He was Van's rival, he _**

had come so close to defeating him for once, and yet he saved him. It just wasn't like him to do something like that.

And then Van was nice to Raven, and Raven had tolerated him and put up with having him around. 

And then they kissed.

_'You should go back and talk to him. You just left him there.'  The voice had been eavesdropping on his _

thoughts and decided to make its opinion heard.

**_"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"_**

But Raven couldn't help wondering what the Liger pilot thought of him now. 

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Van hadn't moved from where he had been unceremoniously dumped on the ground. For a while, 

a blank expression stayed on his face and the only clue as to his registering of the previous events 

was a faint crimson color spreading across his cheeks.

"I kissed back," Van said. What did this mean? Was he in love with Raven?

"Yes."

Okay. One question answered, many more left to puzzle over.

"Why did he leave?" (Apparently situations like these make Van talk to himself.)

Van was hurt. And not just from suddenly being dropped. He slowly picked himself up from the ground, 

trying to collect a jumbled mess of thoughts. The only reason Raven would have for leaving like this was

 because he realized the mistake he made in kissing Van. 

"He doesn't love me." After all they had been through, they were actually becoming friends.

But maybe, deep down, Van had wanted it to become more.

Van started walking back to camp.

**_"I'll get my things and leave."_**

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Meanwhile, Raven was still have a heated debate with the voice that just wouldn't leave him alone.

_'You love him. That's why you helped him. That's why you kissed him. That's why you're blushing.'_

It was then that Raven noticed a heat had spread to his face.

**_"I really hate you."_**

Raven decided there was only one thing to do. Go back and talk to Van about it**. **

**_"Otherwise you're going to drive me insane, aren't you?"__ Raven mentally grumbled._**

_'Yeah.__ That's why I'm here.'_

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Van had been at camp for a little while now. For some reason, he didn't want to leave.

Shadow had been giving him curious glances while he packed. Van, however, hardly showed any

interest at the black metal lizard. 

**_"I just need to know where we are and where I'm going to." Van thought. He knew that _**

the fear of getting lost was a lousy excuse for staying around, but he couldn't help it. A part of him wanted

to stay and talk to Raven, but another part wanted to get the hell out of the general area.

**_" I_****_ really need to get going before Raven comes back, 'cause it would make things _**

**_awkward_****_ and-"  Too late. The dark haired Zoid pilot stepped into the clearing._******

"Van… we need to talk." Raven mumbled. He turned to his Organoid and said, "Shadow, 

could you leave us for a while." It was more of a command than it was a question. The black 

Organoid uncurled itself from its comfy position by the fire and tromped off somewhere.

Great. Alone with Raven. Again.

There were several long stretches of silence before Van cleared his throat. 

"Uh, look Raven, we don't really need to talk about anything. I was just going to leave anyway…"

"Leave?" Raven raised an eyebrow. "What for?"

"You probably don't want me around any more."

"Why do you think that?" Raven stepped closer. A little closer than Van really preferred at the time.

"Because you don't love me…" Van managed to squeak out the answer. Raven was a little 

surprised. Van had interpreted that from what Raven had done back there?

Silence reigned again as Raven thought some more and Van started to feel trapped.

"Van," Raven began, "I do… like you. A lot."  **_"_****_Great, Raven. You 'like' him." _**

The Genobreaker pilot mentally kicked himself. Really hard.

"…Why are you making such funny faces?" Van's voice cut through Raven's thoughts.

"Was I?" Raven inquired. 

"Yeah," came Van's quiet response. "… … … You know, Raven, I really

like you too." Van mumbled. If Raven hadn't been paying attention he wouldn't

have heard it.

Van leaned up and pressed his lips against Raven's. Raven looked surprised for a moment

before closing his eyes and deepening the kiss.

When they finally broke apart, Raven was panting and Van had turned the cutest crimson color.

"Still thinking of leaving?" Raven murmured. 

"Not anymore." Van curled up against Raven and sighed. "But I'll have to go back and let

everyone know I'm alright. They're probably worried about me by now."

They sat there for several moments before Raven spoke again.

"Van?"

"Hmm?" Van sleepily mumbled. Raven hesitated.

"I love you." 

"I love you, too, Raven. I love you too.

**OWARI**

Hurray! I _finally got off my lazy behind and finished the story. I think the ending could've used a little more work_

and Raven was slightly out of character, but it's the best I can do with this long-term writer's block that plagues my mind.

Maybe I'll make a sequel someday, but I have so many other stories to write. (My friend is getting extremely pissed because

I'm supposed to be writing her a Cardcaptor Sakura story).

Thanks to everyone who wrote positive reviews! Cookies for all!  


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